Hibr

Is incineration really the solution?

Incineration is the process of burning waste at high temperatures. The waste is converted into various gases (such as carbon dioxide and dioxins) and residual ashes. Recently, various international and local recommendations have been issued to use incineration technologies to produce electricity from waste.

However, although incineration can form an essential part of an integrated waste management system, strict controls are required to prevent its negative impact on human health and the environment. Controls on incineration are very hard to implement and the Lebanese government is neither currently equipped nor ready to impose these controls. In the absence of effective controls, harmful pollutants will be emitted into the air, land and water affecting human health and the environment.

Incineration-based technologies have been a subject of intense debate in the field of environmental policy. Greenpeace, for example, says that although incinerators “may reduce the volume of solid waste … they do not dispose of the toxic substances contained in the waste. They create the largest source of dioxins, which is one of the most toxic chemicals known to science.”

Toxic gases are created at various stages of the incineration process. These gases escape into the air. There are no safe ways of avoiding their production or destroying them, and at best they can be trapped at extreme cost and with difficulty in sophisticated filters that have to be maintained in a very controlled manner. These toxic gases, even if trapped, then become hazardous waste themselves.

Waste incineration systems produce a wide variety of pollutants which are harmful to human health. Practically, such systems do not eliminate or adequately control the toxic emissions. Even new incinerators release toxic gases, including dioxins. EJNet.org (Web Resources for Environmental Justice Activists), the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the U.S. National Toxicology Program, and many other groups consider these dioxins to be a cancer hazard. Moreover, these highly toxic compounds cause neurological damage, disrupt reproductive systems, and cause many other diseases.

People are exposed to toxic compounds as a result of incineration in several ways:

• By breathing in the toxic air emitted by the incinerators, which affects both workers in the plant and people who live near the station.
• Through the pollutants released during the incineration process. These pollutants are not bio-degradable and accumulate on grass and in water. Eventually, they enter our food chain through locally-produced foods, fish, or drinking water.

In addition, incineration reduces our ability to reuse or recycle potentially valuable discarded material. Recycling offers more environmental benefits and has a lower negative impact on the environment than incineration. Recycling conserves energy that would otherwise be expended in the process of extracting virgin raw materials from the natural environment and transforming them into goods. Moreover, many of these goods could be manufactured from recycled waste materials.

Finally, many organizations consider incineration to be one of the more costly waste management options. IndyACT, for example, claims that “incineration is the most expensive existing solution” to Lebanon’s waste management problems. Instead, IndyACT and the Lebanese Coalition towards Zero Waste propose the adoption of sorting and recycling techniques, which they believe would stimulate local industry and provide employment opportunities. The Lebanese Coalition towards Zero Waste even proposes gradually eliminating non-recoverable materials.

In conclusion, the adoption of alternative cleaner methods than incineration for the disposal of garbage is necessary. The ideal strategy would be to avoid generation of waste in the first place. However, even without eliminating waste altogether, we recommend:

• That the government implements a strategy to segregate waste at the source and recycle what can be recycled.
• That we all reuse what can be reused. Reusing materials reduces the amount of waste produced.
• That we all compost organic materials wherever possible.
• That unrecyclable materials are dumped in a secure way.

Elie Abouchaaya is Assistant Director of the Humanitarian Group for Social Development